Rocking Rochester

Oct 10, 2011

Hey Family,

Last week was a crazy good week, and we saw a lot of success. We were able to set two dates for oct 22! We set these dates when the Assistants came down and blitzed our area. We saw a lot of miracles when they were here -great missionaries. I'm really excited for the future of this area, and Rochester 2nd ward is really excited about this great news. It was just a good week overall. We added 9 new investigators to our teaching pool this week with more to come, and a big chunk to that big number is a family of 5. We're pretty excited to teach a family-it's a rare occasion. We found them in the area book. The Area book has many hidden treasures that missionaries can find at any given time.

I don't know if i mentioned in my last email, but Elder Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming to our stake conference this week. We're trying to take advantage of this by letting our investigators know. Elder Cook will also be talking to the missionaries in the Bloomington Chapel on Friday @ 12:45. This is exciting news that just hit our mission! Missionaries in Rochester have been invited to attend. We're super excited for this! President Clements has a close connection with Elder Cook. I guess President Clements served under Elder Cook in a calling for a time. Our luck now is that the Rochester missionaries get to see him again for stake conference this Sunday the 16th.

We continue to work with various backgrounds and people, and helping them come closer to Christ. One particular challenge is a young man who's a member and is thinking about committing suicide. I received a phone call from his relative one night and she told me that he was in need of some spiritual guidance. Now i know missionaries aren't here to council, but i had to do something. I ended up calling the young man who wasn't happy with his life. I read a scripture that came to mind in Timothy chapter 4, "let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believers". All i could do was testify that he was on this earth to be an example and to help others, and that nothing should stop him from contributing to the kingdom of God. We met with him a day later and set goals and talked about the 3 Rs of choice (President Monson's talk in last years priesthood session). We'll definitely be turning this challenge over to the bishop and the ward.

I still have a stuffy nose and have come to a conclusion that it's the leaves or it could be something i'm allergic to outside. This time of years is always a bit of a challenge for me. Elder Potter had some food poisoning last Saturday, and he threw up a couple times on our way to a meeting. We actually had to make an emergency stop so he could open the door and let his insides come out. I ended up having a conference call with the our ward council over the speaker phone. The sisters and other missionaries have been sick as well. Something always goes around this time of the year.

This week is packed with various activities. Tonight we're leading a missionary FHE with the young singles in the area--that will be a lot of fun. We've thought of different activities to do and we'll be helping them be better missionaries. Then we'll be heading up to Sparta Wisconsin again for another baptismal interview and we'll exchange with the Winona Elders. I love a busy schedule.

Well family hope all is going well. Have you called Jon Shirley yet? Have Tanner call him and invite him and his girl friend Natalie over for dinner. He was our miracle baptism in Hudson. I would love for the fam to get to know him while he's at BYU Idaho. I gave you his number in one of my emails.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Browning

Spiritual Feast

Oct 4, 2011

Hey Family,

I'm really happy about this week! What a blessing it's has been for me to grow in the gospel. A major part of that was General Conference, and another was ZLC. It's been a really good week! Time is just going way too fast.

What a powerful weekend it was with conference! We were able to watch it at the stake center in Rochester for all 4 sessions. It was a blessing to say the least. It sure makes a difference when you prepare spiritually for conference. My favorite talk would have to be Richard G Scott. His testimony of the scriptures helped me a lot. I've been able to see the impact of the scriptures and what they can do is remarkable. I’ll never go back to my normal life of lame 10 minute scriptures studies.

Because missionaries are so close with the spirit, we have a unique perspective with the things that our leaders are saying. We can see the blessings clearer than most and that's because we've lived and experienced the gospel challenge for ourselves. Elder Anderson’s talk was a tender mercy. One because it talked about a sensitive subject that our family has been through (having another child), plus it was really appropriate that out of all the general authorities to give the talk, it was Elder Anderson. What a tender mercy!

Some of our investigators came to conference, Amy and Nick. Amy commented at the very end of the session that she felt that Elder Cook’s message was true. Out of all of the messages, she liked Elder Cook’s the best. How cool is that? It's neat to see the Lord prepare the hearts of his investigators. Elder Cook is coming to our stake conference in two weeks and I'm way excited for that spiritual feast. I also loved the Priesthood session. Whoa, talk about super missionary minded! I thought it talked a lot about preparation of the priesthood and becoming more spiritually self reliant.

Zone Leader Conference was really nice. We left Rochester right after conference, and it took us close to 2 hours to get there. Areas that are far from the mission home arrive the night before for convenience. We then had interviews with President Clements. I know this man has been called of God and he truly receives revelation for this mission! We were up late helping the assistants. Other Zone leaders from far areas spent the night as well helping the assistants prepare for ZLC the following morning.

The next morning, we had our usual morning breakfast with the Clements family and they're pretty good at feeding 18 elders! (Every zone leader companionship eats breakfast.) After breakfast was meeting time! We learned a lot about creative finding, social media, Family History, and service. President Clements also told us to have more confidence in our message and be a little more bold in our contacts and extending commitments. I wish i could go more in depth but i don't have a lot of time.

Sorry this is short! We're going to help a less active member milk some cows on his farm, and then the assistants are coming into town tonight to exchange! Love you all!

Elder Browning